1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a mounting structure for a flexible printed circuit board (hereinafter referred to as"FPC") for transmitting signals to a recording/reproducing head in a recording/reproducing apparatus using a recording/reproducing disk, such as a floppy disk or a hard disk, and to a recording/reproducing apparatus using the mounting structure.
2. Description of the Related Art
An example of a well-known type of magnetic recording/reproducing apparatus using a floppy disk is disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Unexamined Publication No. 63-72712. Generally speaking, a conventional recording/reproducing apparatus of the type in which recording and reproduction are effected on and from the upper and lower sides of a recording/reproducing disk by using upper and lower recording/reproducing heads is constructed as shown in FIG. 21.
The conventional recording/reproducing apparatus shown in FIG. 21 comprises a carriage 101, an arm 105 which is mounted to a mounting base 102 of the carriage 101 through the intermediation of a plate spring 103 or the like by means of a plurality of screws 104 or the like so as to be vertically rotatable and which is biased so as to rotate downwardly by the plate spring 103 or the like, and upper and lower recording/reproducing heads 107 and 108 consisting of magnetic heads which are respectively attached to upper and lower opposing surfaces 101a and 105a of the carriage 101 and the arm 105 through the intermediation of mounting plates 106, wherein these recording/reproducing heads 107 and 108 are held in elastic contact with the upper and lower sides of a recording/reproducing disk 109 consisting of a floppy disk and wherein the carriage 101 is moved in the directions indicated by arrows a, which correspond to the radial dimension of the disk 109 by means of a lead screw (not shown). While turning the disk 109 at high speed, the recording/reproducing heads 107 and 108 are moved in the directions indicated by the arrows a to effect recording and reproduction on and from the upper and lower sides of the disk 109.
In the recording/reproducing apparatus constructed as described above, recording/reproducing signals are transmitted by using FPCs 111 and 112 connected to the upper and lower recording/reproducing heads 107 and 108. As shown in FIG. 22, connectors 114, which are provided beforehand on a relatively rigid hard circuit (base) board 113, protrude through a through-hole 115a into a chassis 115 of the recording/reproducing apparatus in which the recording/reproducing heads 107 and 108, etc. are arranged. Further, the FPCs 111 and 112, which are connected to the recording/reproducing heads 107 and 108, are led to the exterior from the arm 105 and the carriage 101, and one end portion of each of the FPCs 111 and 112 is inserted into an insertion section 114a of the connector 114, whereby electrical connection is established between the recording/reproducing heads 107 and 108 and the board 113. Further, a reinforcing plate 116 is attached to the back side of one end portion of each of the FPCs 111 and 112 to facilitate the insertion thereof into the insertion section 114a of the connector 114.
As described above, in the above conventional recording/reproducing apparatus, the mounting structure for mounting the FPCs 111 and 112 to the board 113 uses connectors 114, to which one end portion of each of the FPCs 111 and 112 is connected. The reason for using these connectors 114 is that, even when the FPCs 111 and 112 are pulled as a result of the end portions thereof on the side of the recording/reproducing heads 107 and 108 moving in the directions indicated by the arrows a, there is no concern that a defective conduction between the recording/reproducing heads 107, 108 and the hard circuit board 103 since one end portion of the FPC 111, 112 is reliably secured and connected to the connector 114, thereby providing a high level of reliability.
However, when considered in the light of the recent remarkable reduction in the price of recording/reproducing apparatuses, the connectors 114 are rather expensive, and there a requirement that one end portion of the FPC 111, 112 should be directly connected to the base board 113 without using any connectors 114. However, when the FPCs 111 and 112 are directly joined to the base board 113 solely by soldering, the requisite level of connection strength cannot be attained, so that the solder will easily come off due to the repeated expansion and contraction of the FPCs as a result of the recording/reproducing heads 107 and 108 advancing and retracting in the directions of the arrows a. Further, due to the flexibility of the FPCs 111 and 112, the positioning of the FPCs 111 and 112 at desired positions on the board 113 is rather difficult to perform when mounting the FPCs 111 and 112 to the board 113, so that positional deviation will be easily developed unless the force is properly applied when mounting, which means a poor operability in soldering.